Development of mechanical and visible transparency properties of spark plasma sintered spinel fabricated by powder injection molding of MgAl2O4 nanoparticles

This research aims to investigate the density, hardness, fracture toughness, and infrared and visible transmittance of spark plasma sintered (SPS) spinel discs fabricated through the powder injection molding (PIM) method. These properties were compared with the sample directly SPSed without the PIM process. For this purpose, initially, a feedstock was prepared with 80 wt% spinel nanopowder and 20 wt% binder. The results revealed that the hardness and fracture toughness of the SPSed spinel disc sintered at 1400 degrees C were greater than those of the spinel sample without PIM treatment. Also, for the PIMed sample and then SPSed sample, the level of infrared and visible transmittance was similar to 10% greater than for the SPSed spinel nanopowders.

Automated summary

The SPS spinel discs fabricated through the PIM method showed higher hardness and fracture toughness compared to samples without PIM treatment, while the infrared and visible transmittance levels were slightly higher for the PIMed and SPSed samples.